As the profits roll in, LinkedIn imitates Twitter with a new user follow button

The bigger these social networks get, the more similar they all start to look. As Facebook (s fb), Twitter (s twtr), and LinkedIn (s lnkd) figure out what keeps users engaged and coming back for more, their products are converging.

LinkedIn recently rolled out something that Twitter started and Facebook copied: A follow button. You can sign up to track updates for a person that hasn’t accepted your connection invitation. According to ReadWrite, a user’s more personal news won’t reach you — like if they make a job move or profile change — but when they post links to articles and status updates you’ll be in the know.

The move pushes LinkedIn even further down a path it’s been following doggedly: Social sharing. Whereas the network was once known for its privacy standards — you couldn’t even request a LinkedIn connection without knowing a person’s email address — in…